Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 19:51:36 -0400
From: Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com>
To: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
Cc: Stephen Frost <sfrost@snowman.net>, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>,
	Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com>,
	Ants Aasma <ants.aasma@eesti.ee>,
	PostgreSQL-development <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: WIP: Data at rest encryption
Message-ID: <20170615235136.64zkk5e5cwbf2svc@alvherre.pgsql>
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Bruce Momjian wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 07:27:55PM -0400, Stephen Frost wrote:
> > I expect the same would happen with the shell-command approach suggested
> > up-thread and the prompt-on-stdin approach too, they aren't great but I
> > expect users would still use the feature.  As Robert and I have
> > mentioned, there is a good bit of value to having this feature simply
> > because it avoids the need to get someone with root privileges to set up
> > an encrypted volume and I don't think having to use a shell command or
> > providing the password on stdin at startup really changes that very
> > much.
> 
> Understood, but now you are promoting a feature with an admittedly-poor
> API, duplication of an OS feature, and perhaps an invasive change to the
> code.  Those are high hurdles.

I thought we called it "incremental development".  From the opposite
point of view, would you say we should ban use of passphrase-protected
SSL key files because the current user interface for them is bad?

I have no use for data-at-rest encryption myself, but I wouldn't stop
development just because the initial design proposal doesn't include
top-notch key management.

-- 
Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services


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